Hitherto, as antidiabetic drugs for oral use, there have been widely employed sulfonyl urea which shows hypoglycemic action particularly through a promotion of the secretion of insulin, and a biguanide which shows a hypoglycemic action particularly through the metabolism of sugar. However, they are somewhat unsatisfactory as to their side effects (see Textbook of Endocrinology 4th ed., 1968, p. 719 (Saunders); Diabetes, 19, 785, 1970; Ann. Rev. Pharmacol., 15, 351, 1975).
No report has ben found that a D-phenylalanine derivative possesses hypoglycemic action.